By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net

“THE LEVEL of carbon dioxide is high in this room,” Federico Gonzalez quipped, as he reminded the remaining startups to think about catching the panel’s attention quickly.

“Our attention span is getting shorter,” Gonzalez added, which made people laugh.

The panel of experts said that one of the important things to consider in doing “elevator pitches” is to convince investors in the first 30 seconds.

Eric Manlunas, partner at Global Gateway Venture Capital, suggested to a startup that they should work on their their PowerPoint
presentations, starting with the fonts they use.

“You lost me at the first few slides,” he told one startup.

Serious Gamers, a startup headed by Norman Goss, presented a business simulation game aimed at corporate clients who wish to train their sales managers in negotiations.

Goss is incidentally the father of Ranulf Goss, a local game developer.

Martin Lichauco, managing director of AO Capital, however, explained that the panel is meant to help startups “tweak their ideas.”

Outstanding Informatics, founded by doctors of the University of the Philippine-Manila, pitched the award-winning Community Health
Information Tracking System, which is now being deployed in local health centers in the country.

By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net

ON THE ONE HAND, the entrepreneurs here included “bored engineers” who wanted to have some fun and money, and overachieving students who hope to create a Facebook-like service that would help match students with their college or course using the idea of crowd-sourcing.

On the other hand, you also have more mature firms like Ascendant Technologies, which has been in stealth mode for the past two years and is now ready to “go to the next level” with the patient information system it developed.

So far, the ideas presented during the second half of the elevator pitches involved business ideas related to e-learning, e-health, and
e-government.

By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net

IT was like a press conference where each startup had to undergo grilling from a panel of experts.

Startups were given five minutes to talk, and more grilling followed.

One of the business ideas that caught the attention of the panel was a simple student information system developed by Integritas Data Management Solutions, which has already developed a product deployed in some local schools.

Following a short break, the panel reiterated that startups have to distinguish between the market in general and the “addressable
market,” which means the target market of a service or a product.

Morph Labs executive chairman Winston Damarillo said startups can opt to run deeper on a vertical market and dominate it.

Business ideas presented here included an e-learning solution that hopes to be an alternative to existing e-learning platforms. One group presented eDispose, which envisions a portal for selling the unused assets of local government units.

“We’re looking at recurring revenue base and [ideas that] can scale. I don’t mind me-too ideas,” one of the experts on the panel stressed.

By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net

SEVENTEEN startup firms have attended Day 2 of Morph Code, a bootcamp hosted by Morph Labs, Ayala Foundation, and the Philippine Emerging Startups Open Inc.

Each company will be given five minutes to present their idea to a panel.

“It’s going to be fast and furios,” said George Telenko, who is moderating today’s event.

The panel is composed of Winston Damarilo, executive chairman of Morph Labs; Martin Lichauco, managing director of AO Capital; Bill Luz, executive vice president of Ayala Foundation; Federico Gonzalez, president and CEO of PESO; and Eric Manlunas.

Damarillo also announced that Morph Labs is the first software company in the country to go public.

Xlang, a startup that hopes to help people learn a foreign language, started the ball rolling with its presentation.

MORPH LABS CEO David Abramowski talks about how software as a service can help small businesses compete with big software companies.

Video taken by INQUIRER.net online videographer Janie Christine Octia on Day 1 of the Morph Code bootcamp at the Ateneo de Manila University.

Day 2 of the Morph Code bootcamp, which will be held Saturday, April 5 at the same venue, will give technology entrepreneurs the opportunity to make their own elevator pitches.

Click here for the Day 2 schedule.

MORPH LABS CEO David Abramowski talks about the evolution of software development, and emphasized that technology entrepreneurs should quickly transform their business ideas into beta products or services. Abramowski gave a presentation on Day 1 of the Morph Code bootcamp held at the Ateneo de Manila University.

Video taken by INQUIRER.net online videographer Janie Christine Octia.

INQUIRER.NET multimedia reporter Erika Tapalla and INQUIRER.net technology reporter Erwin Oliva interview Morph Labs Inc. CEO David Abramowski during Day 1 of the Morph Code bootcamp the company held for Filipino technology entrepreneurs at the Ateneo de Manila University.

Video taken by INQUIRER.net online videographer Janie Christine Octia.

DR. Alvin Marcelo, director of the National Telehealth Center at the University of the Philippines-Manila, talks about opportunities in e-health in an interview conducted after his presentation at the Morph Code bootcamp for Filipino technology entrepreneurs at the Ateneo de Manila University.

Video taken by INQUIRER.net multimedia reporter Erika Tapalla.